Metal Gear Rising, God of War Ascension, Bayonetta 2, Castelvania LOS 2, Which Action game will Reign Supreme in 2013?

By Furious Francis editor in chief

2013 is looking to be a massive year for the action genre. The List of action games is quite impressive, but were going to focus on four titles to be early runners for action game of the year. Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, Bayonetta 2, God of War Ascension, and Castlevania Lords of Shadow 2 are all coming out in 2013 and have big name developers attached to them. Two of the four games on the list are developed by Platinum Games, so we know what genre they do best. We’re going to rank what games we think will be best in 2013 from 4th to 1st. Please comment on what you think. Which one of these games are you most excited for, and what game do you think will be the best?

4. God of War Ascension – Sony/Sony Santa Monica – PS3 Exclusive

– God of War ended on a bit of a whimper but that doesn’t mean the team can’t reinvent Kratos, which they are trying to do. God of War Ascension is a prequel to the epic trilogy that spanned the PS2 to PS3. One of the new things Sony has added to the game is multi-player, which is kind of the reason this game lands 4th on our list. Multi-player takes time, resources, creative juices away from the single-player. We can’t help but feel God of War’s single-player might not be as lengthy or impressive as the other games on the list because of the time and resources it takes to make multi-player. Were not saying God of War Ascension’s multi-player or single-player is bad, we’re just worried about the Mass Effect 3 type affect the multi-player can have on the single-player. The God of War franchise also needs to sure up its combo system. To many times square, square, triangle can get you through most of the game. And this is even on the harder difficulties.

– This was a tough decision, it was picking between Joe Montana, Tom Brady, or Steve Young. Metal Gear Rising plays like a dream. The controls are intuitive, the action is fast paced, and the graphics are top notch for the amount of craziness that is ensuing on screen. The ONLY reason Metal Gear Rising is 3rd on our list is because the game is a new IP. However, I would not be the least bit surprised if Metal Gear Rising ends up being the best game out of the four.

– Once again, another very very very difficult decsion. Bayonetta 1 was nothing short of spectacular. The gameplay took the action genre to a new level. The depth, range of skills, weapons, and combos at your disposal were unparalled at the time. Bayonetta innovated on so many levels as well. The Dodge Off Set, where you could start a combo, dodge, then pick up right where you left off was amazing. The ability for weapons to be equipped to your hands and feet, then have different moves based on where you equip it, varied up the gameplay like no other action game has done. I love Bayonetta, and Bayonetta 2 could very well be the best action game ever created, but the story and lore of Bayonetta were weak and Bayonetta 2 might very well fall in that line.

– Castlevania Lords of Shadow was the most successful Castlevania games, sales wise, in the franchises history. Castlevania Lords of Shadow had the full package: Good graphics, skill based gameplay, a huge campaign that spans 2 Xbox 360 discs, and by far the best story out of any of these games. Fans are chomping at the bit to finally play as Dracula. To see his side, his story.These are all questions MercurySteam has promised to answer as they plan on wrapping up the series with Castlevania Lords of Shadow 2. The teaser trailer even left more questions with what looked like Alucard facing off against Gabriel. Castlevania is only game on this list that proved its story can match how good the gameplay is, and that’s why we have Castlevania Lords of Shadow 2 as the number one action game on our list.

We even left off DmC Devil May Cry and the Wonderful 101 off this list. 2013 is shaping up to the best year for action games since 2010.

All of these games can be anywhere on this list, and there is still major gameplay details missing from each of these titles. But we want to know what you guys think. Comment below, state your reasons, be a part of the community. Use the comment section below. If you haven’t registered on Playeressence please do so.

Oh look a pretentious hipster trolling God of War and defending and promoting the underdogs nobody gives a damn about, how original.

God of War is the most critically acclaimed, beloved and bestselling franchise in the genre of all time. God of War III is not only the most acclaimed and bestselling game in the genre this generation but of all time, did you just have the audacity to claim the trilogy ended on a whimper.

God of War consistently has the best combat, story, sound/music, characters, boss fights, gameplay, puzzles and graphics in the genre and nothing comes close. You trolls always use the same “the combat is just square, square and triangle” nonsense, that’s such a tired and illegitimate claim with no basis in the real world at all. God of War has a easy to learn yet difficulty to master deep combat system that feels responsive, varied and FUN. It has a perfectly tuned difficulty balance too which allows the less experienced gamers to enjoy the game without feeling pressured to learning difficult combos as well as the experienced gamers who want a challenge and to explore the games brilliant combat system.

Keep trolling God of War, it’s going to outsell, win more awards and be more acclaimed than all of the other games in your useless list by miles.

And it shows how much of a God of War troll you are, you haven’t even taken the time to read up about the latest game otherwise you’d know the team doubled in size to ensure that both the single player and the multiplayer are both at 110%. Everyone who’s been playing the Beta for the multiplayer loves it and Sony Santa Monica have never made a less than amazing game, this new game will be made with the experience of 3 acclaimed games to ensure it has the best campaign in not only the series but the genre of all time.

I moderated this post myself because you people obviously can't handle swearing.

– I don't know what that is, but I'm not one. Just a writer. That plays video games.

"defending and promoting the underdogs nobody gives a damn about, how original."

– Nobody gives a damn about Bayonetta, Castlevania, and Metal Gear Rising? You want to talk about trolling? This statement by you is laughable.

"God of War is the most critically acclaimed, beloved and bestselling franchise in the genre of all time. God of War III is not only the most acclaimed and bestselling game in the genre this generation but of all time, did you just have the audacity to claim the trilogy ended on a whimper."

– Reviews mean next to nothing to me. I just play the game. But if you do want to use reviews as point to your argument. God of War 3 is barely rated better than Bayonetta and God of War has better graphics, story, production value. Most reviewers bashed Bayonetta for having bad characters a weak story, average graphics, yet the game still ranks a 90 on average. That goes to show you how awesome Bayonetta's gameplay is if the story, graphics, characters all suck, yet the game is still only a few points away from God of War 3.

-Sales also mean nothing as bad games sell all the time. Wii Music anybody? Not to say God of War 3 is a bad game cause its not, but sales don't dictate if one game is better than another, or if the game is good in general. Really good games can sell really bad….. Okami. And yeah the series went out on a whimper. Kratos impaling himself? Didn't see that one coming.

"God of War consistently has the best combat, story, sound/music, characters, boss fights, gameplay, puzzles and graphics in the genre and nothing comes close."

– Most of what you said was subjective. Graphics yeah, God of War is the best. But sound/music, characters, boss fights, gameplay, puzzles is all subjective. I like Bayonetta's combat system more. There is clearly a difference in skill involved. Techniques like the 'dodge offset' in Bayonetta prove that. Plus having the ability to equip weapons on your hands and legs, then have whole different moves sets when you do so put the depth and range of combat clearly in Bayonetta's favor.

– Story is also subjective, I like Castlevania's more. The revelation that Dracula was actually the first Belmont is crazy and was awesome. Plus Alucard! You fight against Alucard! So awesome.

Oh look a pretentious hipster cunt trolling God of War and defending and promoting the underdogs nobody gives a shit about, how original.

God of War is the most critically acclaimed, beloved and bestselling franchise in the genre of all time. God of War III is not only the most acclaimed and bestselling game in the genre this generation but of all time, did you just have the audacity to claim the trilogy ended on a whimper.

God of War consistently has the best combat, story, sound/music, characters, boss fights, gameplay, puzzles and graphics in the genre and nothing comes close. You trolls always use the same "the combat is just square, square and triangle" bullshit, that's such a tired and illegitimate claim with no basis in the real world at all. God of War has a easy to learn yet difficulty to master deep combat system that feels responsive, varied and FUN. Keep trolling God of War, it's going to outsell, win more awards and be more acclaimed than all of the other games in your rubbish list by miles.

And it shows how much of a God of War troll you are, you haven't even taken the time to read up about the latest game otherwise you'd know the team doubled in size to ensure that both the single player and the multiplayer are at 110%. Everyone who's been playing the Beta for the multiplayer loves it and Sony Santa Monica have never made a less than amazing game, this new game will be made with the experience of 3 acclaimed games to ensure it has the best campaign in not only the series but the genre of all time.